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March was somewhat of a busy month for me. First I recovered from a whirlwind of Northern Irishness after my cousin and her friend came to stay for a few weeks. Then I went to London and Northern Ireland for two weeks to visit family and friends, as well as surprise my grandmother for her 80th birthday party (she was shocked, if you must know). I came back to San Francisco, collapsed in a heap, then ventured off to wine country for a weekend of silly pillow fights, hot tubs, and – you guessed it! – wine.

Below I’ve included quite a few photos from the last few weeks. Some of my favorites come from Londonderry/Derry, a part of Northern Ireland long troubled by pro/anti union troubles for years and years. It also contains old walls surrounding the city, which are interesting to walk around. Although my father had walked the walls before (he was born and raised in NI), he didn’t think he’d ever actually walk the city streets (wait a minute…this sounds like the start of a U2 song). Many signs in the area, whether pro or anti union, are still covered with paint (probably from paint guns) and intimidating murals featuring schoolgirls accompanied by AK47s face busy streets.

I promise (at least to myself) that one of these days I will post more frequently than once every 10 days or so. WordPress started a challenge for 2011, which involves either posting every day or every week in 2011. Well, it’s now January 12 and this is my second post of the year, so clearly the every day challenge ain’t gonna fly. But! I could most likely do the once a week challenge. Let’s hope I make the January 2012 Caroline proud.

Anyways, on to the post. As I’ve mentioned before, living in San Francisco is wonderful. Not only is it a beautiful city filled with some of the best tasting and freshest food on earth, but it’s also incredibly close to fantastic places. Need a taste of winter? Drive to Tahoe. Want wine? There’s Sonoma and Napa for ya. Want something a tad warmer by the sea? Hop on the beautiful Highway 1 and head to Monterey Bay, which is exactly what the other C and I did this Sunday. I should add that we spent Saturday in Chinatown being charmed by an elderly Chinese man in the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (awesome place).

It took us about two and a half hours to drive to Monterey. Monterey itself is fairly touristy and filled with rich retirees, but the nature surrounding it is spectacular. I’ve been to a fair amount of aquariums in my day and I’d definitely say this one ranked up there with the best of them. If you’re close by and have a few hours to spare, I’d definitely recommend it. I’ve included some of my fave photos for the day. The rest can be found on my Flickr page.

Over the last few years I’ve gotten into the terrible habit of finding a silly idea, creating a blog around it, updating it furiously for a couple of weeks, and then abandoning it. One purpose of this blog/website is to consolidate everything- from book reviews, to procrastination, to life updates- into one source.

One of those silly ideas, which I actually quite liked, was dedicated to photos of tourists taking photos. Having lived in Notting Hill for over a year, one of London’s most touristy locations, I had to deal with these horrible pests on a daily basis. The worst would be on Saturday mornings, when I’d be running late (of course) to my Japanese class. I’d constantly have to fight my way to the Tube stop against throngs of semi-confused Belgians, Dutch, Americans, and- worst of all- Spanish, French, and Italians due to the weekly Portobello Road Market.

There’s nothing quite like exiting your home to immediately be asked the question, “Excuse. Julia Roberts library. Where?” In case you’re confused, remember that movie called Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant that happened to feature a travel book shop? The one that came out over 10 years ago? Well, it turns out that people are still determined to find not only the book shop, but also the blue door Hugh Grant’s character lived behind. Thrilling.

So, determined not to become overwhelmed by feelings of rage (I used to have a blog called Rageoline & Co. too), I decided to deal with tourists in another manner- by creating a little game. Perhaps if I found tourists funny enough, I could accept the fact that I couldn’t escape them. Ever.

I quickly noticed that tourists, more than anyone else, pose for photos in the most ridiculous ways possible. Also, the person taking the photo usually stretches him or herself into the strangest shapes in order to either appear more professional or to maximize awesome photo potential. My brain decided that taking photos of tourists taking photos would not only be meta in the most hipster of fashions, but would also be quite hilarious.

I’ve taken some pictures of Swedes at a World Cup game, a couple doing crazy maneuvers at Versailles, Indian families at the Taj Mahal, and even managed to get into someone’s photo, while taking a photo, at Northern Ireland’s Giant Causeway. A few of my faves are featured in the photo gallery above. It may be a while, but I plan to either feature more photos regularly or upload a new gallery in a couple months. I’ll do my best to provide better quality photos the next time around.